Dutch art treasures stolen

The Dutch art world was shocked yesterday by the theft of five 17th century paintings valued at nearly £2m after a raid on one of the country's most famous museums by thieves thought to be acting on behalf of a collector.

Police believe Sunday's theft from the Frans Hals museum in Haarlem was a professional job. Burglars forced a window at the converted alms house. They escaped, though not before dropping a sixth canvas.

"They must have left very quickly," Michael Kersten, the museum's head of collections, said. "But they made a mistake, since the one they left behind was more valuable."

Art thefts are relatively rare in the Netherlands and this one, Mr Kersten said, seems to have been well orchestrated.

Although he described the theft as a terrible loss for the museum, it could, he said, have been worse. The museum has canvasses by Frans Hals - worth some £4m each - but their large size makes them more difficult to steal.

The burglars chose common scenes of peasants drinking and fighting. Two canvasses - The Quack and The Happy Drinker, by Adriaan van Ostade - are highly rated, as is another canvas, also entitled The Quack, by Jan Steen. But the two others - The Musicians, by Cornelis Bega, and Drinking Bout, by Cornelis Dusart - are more obscure.